Jeanelle Harvey-Bridges is passionate about pregnancy, homebirth and all things “baby”. As a registered nurse, she decided to make the leap into private practice to allow her to provide the support, understanding and non-judgmental soundboard (along with excellent evidence-based resources) that she wished she had had during her pregnancy and the first months of fatherhood. She understands how vital it is for new moms to nurture themselves while deepening their bond with their baby, whatever that looks like: breastfeeding, sleep, newborn stages, potty training, miscarriage communication, starting solids, and more. Here she talks to The Natural Parent magazine about what inspired her to start The Intuitive Parenther greatest discovery and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to create your business?
As a registered nurse and first-time mom, I wanted to do everything “by the book.” I wanted to have the most up-to-date, evidence-based resources so I could have peace of mind that I was doing the right thing by my child. Not only for his health and well-being as an infant, but also for his development as a toddler, child, teenager, adult!
So when I found out I was pregnant, I dove deep into research on every topic I could think of: sleep, breastfeeding, potty training, emotional development, starting solids, routine, you name it.
My pregnancy journey was difficult as I hated every moment from the day I was diagnosed at 16 weeks with gestational diabetes. What was a smooth, exciting season turned into a nightmare of fortnightly ultrasound and endocrinologist appointments. They tell me I have to induce at 38 weeks, that it is likely to end up in an emergency c-section, and if I don’t follow these rules, my baby will die…
After a period of intense grief over the gentle, natural and undisturbed birth I had envisioned, I continued my research and after many hours and weeks of sifting through articles, books, videos and more, I made the decision to take full responsibility for the birth and childbirth. I decided to give birth for free. I created a handbook for my husband and I so we knew exactly what the true emergency signs were, and what were just variations of normal, so we could make an informed, individual, tailored decision about what to do in Continuity. I ended up having the most beautiful, 9 hour, uneventful labor with a baby born exactly on her due date (40+0), perfectly healthy. NOTE: I do not believe that every woman should give birth for free and I certainly do not advocate it. The decisions we make about birth, labor and our children should come from a place of empowerment and full education, not a place of fear or an “up your system” attitude.
Having been through this rollercoaster of experiences, my eyes have been opened to being more in tune with my intuition as a woman and now as a mother that I had cut off from before.
Once my motherhood journey began, I was shocked at every twist and turn how alone I was, how unsupported I was as a new mother by the motherhood system, and how little I really knew. I also had an incredibly hard time getting “professionals” to listen to me, take me seriously, and actually help me when I voiced concerns that came from my intuition – including that there might be something in my baby’s latch.
I was told “she is gaining weight, sleeping well and you have no nipple damage or pain, everything is fine” but my intuition said otherwise. I persisted and it wasn’t until my baby was 9 weeks that I had someone investigate further. Turns out he had a HUGE lip and tongue tie… my frustration was compensated along with feeding sessions that would last between 30-90 minutes for the 9 weeks of his young life. Once these were investigated and corrected, it was like feeding a new child! We went from waking every hour in the night, with huge spit ups between feeds and an unsettled baby, to a few hours of sleep and a much happier, more content baby.
That’s when I realized how important it is to have someone in your corner who listens to you and takes you seriously, instead of just seeing you as a number to be trained in the same way as the previous one, despite the stark differences in their situation. Realizing that it’s not a one size fits all meant that whenever I spoke about the importance of listening to a mother’s intuition, I would be labeled as ‘alternative’ or ‘crunchy’, but I know that as long as you keep doing this and hold space for others mothers to do the same, we can be deeply attuned to our children and their needs. To me, this is the foundation of being an Intuitive Parent.
